§ 2-30 Aiding and Abetting
All persons who are present, aiding or abetting or encouraging or inciting another to commit a criminal act are regarded as principals and equally guilty with the one who does the act. One who aids or abets the commission of a crime by another is a party to the crime and equally guilty with the principal. When two or more persons aid, abet and encourage each other in the commission of a crime, all being present, each is guilty as a principal.
Aiding and abetting means to assist the perpetrator of the crime and states a rule of criminal responsibility for acts which one assists another in performing. The actual perpetrator is regarded as the agent or instrument by which the crime is perpetuated, not as the chief criminal or more guilty than his associates. Aiding and abetting comprehends all assistance required by acts, or words of encouragement, or support or presence, actual or constructive, to render assistance should it become necessary. It contemplates conduct calculated to incite, encourage, or assist the perpetration of a crime.
"Aid and abet" has been defined as "[h]elp, assist, or facilitate the commission of a crime, promote the accomplishment thereof, help in advancing or bringing it about, or encourage, counsel, or incite as to its commission."
To be guilty as an aider or abettor, the participant must have knowledge of the principal's criminal conduct. Mere presence at the scene is not sufficient to establish guilt as an aider or abettor. Mere presence at the scene of a crime, even in the company of one or more principal wrongdoers, does not alone make one an aider or abettor. The conduct of the individual charged or other special circumstances attending his presence must be such as to show that he has associated himself with and participated in the criminal undertaking. Something of significance beyond the fact of presence is necessary to justify a conviction.
To convict of aiding and abetting, it is not necessary that identity of the principal be established, much less that he be convicted, but the State must prove the offense has been committed.
Presence at the scene of the crime by prearrangement to aid, encourage or abet in the perpetration of the crime constitutes guilt as a principal. Under an accomplice liability theory, a person must personally commit the crime or be present at the scene of the crime and intentionally, or through a common design, aid, abet, or assist in the commission of that crime through...
